IHS forecasts that a total of about 220 GaN MOCVD reactors will be installed in 2015. According to the latest data in the IHS LED Intelligence Service, the aggressive expansion plans of some Chinese LED companies will drive this surge in MOCVD system orders. The company points out that this new capacity expansion is slightly different from the expansion several years ago, which was fueled by government-subsidized tools purchases.
The company predicts that this year only large and publicly traded companies will purchase metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) epitaxy tools. By the end of 2014, eight of the top 20 MOCVD equipment purchasers were Chinese companies and three of those companies- Sanan, Aucksun, and HC Semitek have announced plans for expansion in 2015.
IHS anticipates that most of the new MOCVD purchases in 2015 will be new generation tools that can double capacity per reactor. The company projects that Sanan will lead in 2-inch equivalent wafer capacity share, by the end of 2015, but Epistar will still own the largest number of MOCVD tools. IHS predicts thatthe the largest three Chinese companies will achieve a combined market share of 27 percent in 2015. The company forecasts that the large number of MOCVD system shipments will increase the level of excess LED supply globally by 28 percent.
